Northern Ireland – U.K. bill to maintain Northern Ireland’s public services during governmental hiatus includes decriminalized abortion and same-sex marriage. Bill was signed into law July 24, 2019, to take effect October 22, 2019. Time Magazine: “After 158 Years.”

United Kingdom: Court of Appeal upholds legality of a buffer zone around a London abortion clinic. Dulgheriu and Orthova v. the London Borough for Civil Liberties and The National Council for Civil Liberties [2019] EWCA Civ 1490, Case No: C1/2018/1699 Court of Appeal (Civil Division). (Decision of August 21, 2019) Report by Safe Abortion.

United Nations, International Law Commission, UN 71st session, A/CN.4/L.935 May 15, 2019, adopted new edition of “Crimes against Humanity” treaty, which “removed the outdated definition of gender … [It] affirmed that the rights of women, LGBTIQ persons, and other marginalized groups are protected in international criminal law, which will have ripple effects across national laws and future legal mechanisms for years to come,” according to Jessica Stern et al. New edition of Treaty.

SCHOLARSHIP:

[abortion law, Brazil] “Why is decriminalization necessary? by the Anis Bioethical Institute (Brasilia, 2019). The booklet is now available in English, Spanish and Portuguese : scroll down on this webpage.

[abortion law, Chile ] “Criminalisation under scrutiny: how constitutional courts are changing their narrative by using public health evidence in abortion cases,” by Verónica Undurraga, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters 2019;27(1) DOI: 10.1080/26410397.2019.1620552 Article and abstract

[age-of-marriage, Mali] “A commentary on the African Court’s decision in the case APDF and IHRDA v Republic of Mali: why socio-cultural endemic factors of a society could never support arguments based on force majeure” by Giulia Pecorella, International Law Blog, January 14, 2019. Comment online. Decision PDF.

“Gender Equality, Norms, and Health” 5-part series in The Lancet Vol. 393 provides new analysis and insights into the impact of gender inequalities and norms on health, and opportunities to transform them. ArticlesGender Equality Norms and Health series.

The Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa, will host a colloquium on #SafeAbortion and realising women’s human rights from 16 to 17 January 2020. The colloquium is about developing responses to the persistence of unsafe abortion in the African region. The Centre invites abstracts on overcoming barriers to safe abortion in the #African region. The focus is two-fold: critically exploring laws, policies and practices that serve as barriers to access to safe abortion; and suggesting reforms to overcome the barriers in consonance with women’s human rights. The colloquium seeks to bring together scholars, practitioners and researchers from the African region and beyond working on various aspects of abortion.

Congratulations and thanks to Sangeeta Rege, Padma Bhate-Deosthali, Pravin Shingare, Srinivas Gadappa, Sonali Deshpande, Nandkishore Gaikwad, and Shailesh Vaidya. for their newly published article in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics section on Ethical and Legal Issues in Reproductive Health.” An abstract is provided below:

Abstract: Failure to acknowledge the impact of sex and gender differences affects the quality of health care provision, and is an impediment to reducing health inequities. Systematic efforts were initiated in Maharashtra, India for reducing these disparities by developing gender‐integrated curricula in undergraduate medical education between 2015 and 2018. A review of undergraduate obstetrics and gynecology curricula had indicated a lack of gender lens and focus on the reproductive rights of women. Based on these gaps, a gender‐integrated curriculum was developed, implemented, and tested with medical students. Significant positive attitudes were seen among male and female students for themes such as access to safe abortion; understanding reproductive health concerns and their complex relationship with gender roles; violence against women as a health issue; and sexuality and health. These results strengthened the resolve to advocate for such a curriculum to be integrated across all medical colleges in the state.

The Committee on Ethical and Professional Aspects of Human Reproduction and Women’s Health of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) has recently published a new guideline. Congratulations and thanks to all participating Committee members 2015-2018, Frank A. Chervenak (Chair), Leonel Briozzo, Bernard Dickens, Ralph Hale, Michael Marsh, Laurence B. McCullough, Hannah Motshedisi Sebitloane, Sanjay Gupte, who reviewed, approved, and agreed to be accountable for the final manuscript.

The statement is now available online through FIGO will also be published in the next edition of FIGO Ethical Guideline books.

Post‐abortion care may be required when a woman experiences abortion that is deliberately induced, by the woman herself or by another, or that occurs spontaneously. At a later stage of pregnancy, this may be defined as miscarriage. Deliberately inducing abortion may be lawful or unlawful, depending on locally prevailing laws.

Physicians bear an ethical responsibility to render prompt assistance to anyone in need of medical care that they are able to provide, without discriminating regarding the lawful or other origin of the condition they treat. Much of the mortality associated with induced abortion is due to deficient post‐abortion care. Refusal or failure to render care appropriately constitutes professional misconduct.

Delivery of post‐abortion care to professional standards is legitimate, necessary, and does not in itself implicate providers in another’s prior illegality or professional misconduct.

Post‐abortion care is legally separate from any procedures that may have been undertaken deliberately to induce abortion. Post‐abortion care providers, such as in hospital or clinic emergency or gynecology departments, are ethically required to render indicated care promptly to meet patients’ needs, and bear no responsibility for others’ prior acts or omissions that caused the need for such care.

A care provider who has a conscientious objection to participating in inducing abortion cannot invoke such objection to decline rendering clinically indicated post‐abortion care. As a provider of post‐abortion care, a care provider is not a participant, nor complicit, in another’s prior acts causing the need of such care.

Safe management of post‐abortion care is a professional skill required of all qualified practitioners of obstetrics and gynecology. Training in the medical specialty requires inclusion of post‐abortion care.

Like delivery of other forms of health care, post‐abortion care requires professional regard for patients’ physical and psychological or emotional health needs, that is for patients’ “physical, mental and social well‐being” (WHO definition of “health”).

Some laws require that care providers report evidence of unlawful termination of pregnancy to law‐enforcement authorities. Such laws violate medical professional duties of confidentiality and patients’ human rights, and require that providers reliably distinguish spontaneous from induced abortion, and between lawful and unlawful interventions in pregnancy.

2. Recommendations

Practitioners should promptly render indicated post‐abortion care that is within their means to patients, without regard to whether as individuals they conscientiously object to participation in induced abortion.

Post‐abortion care should include emotional support for patients, and should be delivered in the same non‐judgmental, non‐stigmatizing way as other professional gynecologic services.

On admitting patients to their post‐abortion care, practitioners should record whether they have rendered any prior individual professional services to such patients.

Practitioners should ensure that the facilities in which they are engaged are adequately equipped—for instance with drugs, equipment, and trained personnel—to deliver timely professional care indicated for post‐abortion patients, including counseling and advice on birth control and contraception.

Educational programs and professional certification in gynecology should require training and competence in post‐abortion care, disallowing students’ and candidates’ non‐compliance on grounds of conscientious objection to participation or complicity in induced abortion.

Practitioners and professional associations should oppose and resist laws and proposed laws that compel practitioners to inform law‐enforcement authorities of post‐abortion patients’ identities, on grounds that such laws violate professional ethics and patients’ human rights to confidentiality, risk harmful misinformation, are unreliable for professionals to implement, and are dysfunctional in not deterring illegality but in deterring patients from promptly seeking indicated, necessary, lawful care.

Service providers and managers of service facilities should be familiar with and observe the WHO statement Safe Abortion: technical and policy guidance for health systems,[1] especially Section 2.3 on post‐abortion care and follow‐up.

Human rights agencies, both national and international, characterize neglect or limitation of health services that only women need as violating obligations to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women. Practitioners and facility managers should ensure compliance with non‐discrimination laws in provision of post‐abortion care services.

One year after the Brazilian Supreme Court held its public hearing on ADPF 442, the petition to decriminalize abortion in the first trimester, the Anis Bioethical Institute has recently made its publication: “Abortion: Why is decriminalization necessary?” available in English, Spanish and Portuguese (scroll down). In clear, accessible language, it describes the various arguments presented at the public hearing in Brasília, the federal capital, on August 3rd and 6th, 2018. The arguments are grounded in public health, bioethics, international law, social sciences, and the role of religions in a secular state. The evidence presented is indispensable to any serious debate about health policy.

“Abortion: Why is decriminalization necessary?” is divided into seven main themes that demonstrate, one by one, that criminalization is ineffective not only because it does not prevent abortions, but, worse, because it kills and harms women. In addition, the data presented shows that criminalization is discriminatory — the risks of unsafe abortion fall disproportionately on Black and Indigenous women, and women who live in marginalized communities.

Criminalization has not reduced the number of abortions anywhere in the world; on the contrary, there is evidence from several countries that abortion rates actually decrease in the years following decriminalization. In other words, to protect fetal life, it is better to work with women, not against them.

The booklet is now available in English, Spanish and Portuguese, on this webpage. so that it will be useful to others in the region and their advocacy strategies. With reliable data and stories, we can say: abortion is healthcare.

About IHRP:

The International Human Rights Program enhances the legal protection of existing and emerging international human rights obligations through advocacy, knowledge-exchange, and capacity-building initiatives that provide experiential learning opportunities for students, and legal expertise to civil society, through the following programs and initiatives:

The Director of the International Human Rights Program (“IHRP”) provides clinical, educational, and administrative leadership and support to the IHRP. The Director is the primary contact and responsible for all matters related to the IHRP. The Director oversees all of the IHRP’s advocacy initiatives, including the clinic, working groups, speaker series, Rights Review magazine, internships, and the mentorship program. The Director works with the Faculty to select advocacy opportunities for the IHRP, supervises students working on advocacy, and develops and delivers clinical legal education programs, seminars and IHRP experiential education delivery offerings at the Faculty. Working closely with the Faculty, including the Assistant Dean, the Director develops priorities, strategies, and objectives for the IHRP. The Director organizes and runs seminars, programs, workshops and conferences; drafts position papers, reports, and pleadings; represents the IHRP to various stakeholder groups, including the legal profession, judiciary, policy makers, public interest advocates, private organizations, government, funders, and law schools across Canada and internationally; and oversees all operations, including internal and external communications, finance, fundraising, public relations, and publications.

The Faculty of Law is one of the oldest professional faculties at the University of Toronto. Today, it is one of the world’s great law schools. The Faculty’s rich academic programs are complemented by its many legal clinics and public interest programs [including the International Human Rights Program].

Qualifications required:

EDUCATIONLL.B. (J.D.) degree required or an equivalent combination of education and experience. LL.M or other graduate degree is an asset.

EXPERIENCE Minimum five (5) years of related experience in a law firm, public organization, or government office, including experience relevant to international human rights advocacy and litigation. Extensive variety of experience in dealing with members of the legal profession and international human rights advocates, both within and outside Canada. Strong familiarity with legal education, public interest advocacy, and international human rights law. Related experience in senior positions within administration and management in a publicly funded or public interest organization is an asset. Wide range of career experience, including dealings with the media, funders, students, and the general public is an asset. Comprehensive and global understanding of the University of Toronto, as well as general knowledge of the post-secondary education system, is an asset. Must be a member in good standing with the Law Society of Upper Canada and be able to practice law in the Province of Ontario. The ability to practice law in another jurisdiction is an asset.

Demonstrated superior oral and written communication and advocacy skills. Excellent research and analytical skills. Strong project management skills. Effective problem solver. Well-developed judgment and decision-making skills. Strong fundraising skills, including experience in grant development. Strong leadership skills. Superior drive and enterprise. Ability to manage conflicting priorities and deadlines. Ability to handle matters of a sensitive and confidential nature. Diplomacy, discretion, tact, pleasant manner, and an ability to work well independently as well as with a wide variety of people.

[abortion law, South Korea] “Punishment for Abortion will Vanish from Korea’s Criminal Code: the April 2019 Constitutional Court Decision,” by Professor Hyunah Yang, Seoul National University School of Law Commentary on Reprohealthlaw.

US-focused news, resources, and legal developments are available on Repro Rights Prof Blog. View or subscribe.

REPORTS

[Dominican Republic] “I Felt Like the World Was Falling Down on Me,” Adolescent Girls’ Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the Dominican Republic (New York: Human Rights Watch, June 18, 2019) Report in English. en Español